Devil Doll
by Codename Deus
Summary: Alma has more than a passing interest on Serial Crime Units Agent Chris Harper. She knows far more about him than she is letting in on. Will Chris figure out what Alma is after or will it remain enshrouded in mystery?
1. Signs

**Intro:**

Chris Harper is a 24 year old male who hales from Seattle, Washington. He lives in a small run down apartment on the outer edge of the city. He works as a Forensics Investigator for the Serial Crimes Unit (S.C.U) and has to travel many miles into downtown Seattle, where his crime unit's Head Quarters are based. He is very experienced with handling unusual situations and crimes and is not afraid to shoot on sight if he has to. He has dealt with a large number of crimes in his 3 years with the S.C.U and he takes his job very seriously.

Outside of his job he lives alone in the aforementioned apartment, though he is divorced from a previous marriage and has a daughter. Chris is content with his life although he wishes that his marriage worked, for the sake of his little girl Angel.

His life outside of work and even inside has been very quiet recently with the crimes down tenfold in the last few months. However, soon enough there are strange goings on in Seattle and a series of bizarre deaths take place. This is no ordinary crime spree, as Chris is about to find out for himself, and this will be a big test to both his crime stopping skills and his nerves. But even Chris would not have been prepared for what is happening around Seattle as nothing is what it seems, not even Chris himself…..

**Chapter 1: Signs**

Chris wakes up at 6am and gets ready for work. He goes to the bathroom and has his morning wash. He gets dressed and has his breakfast (beans on toast). He opens the front door to his apartment as he prepares to leave for work. He then realises he has left his car keys in the kitchen. He retrieves them and prepares to leave for work again. Suddenly the front door slams shut, and it was a clear day outside with very little breeze. "That's odd!" Chris says to himself. He lets it slide, passing it off as it may have been a sudden gust of wind. He leaves his apartment and drives to work in his smart Lotus Exige. He arrives at the S.C.U Head Quarters 45 minutes later. He gets into his office and awaits instruction. An employee named Michael Harris enters 5 minutes later. "I got a call from somebody who sounded very frightened. She mentioned that a murder has taken place about a block away from the Space Needle. She said she has never seen anything like it. Chris, I think you should go down there and do some investigating…" Michael explained. "Shit! On it right away!" Chris replied. Soon enough, he arrives at the murder scene. "Holy shit!" Chris says in shock. There was a very large pool of blood on the pavement and the road and lying in the middle of it was a bloodied skeleton. Chris begins to investigate by taking a blood sample to try and identify the victim. He transports the data to the HQ and a young woman named Rosie Vine looks at them for analysis. She soon determines that the victim was Seth Anderson, a 37 year old male who worked in a local store but had links with Armacham Technology Corporation based in nearby Auburn. Out of nowhere Chris hears a soft, almost playful giggle of a little girl. He looks around and does not see anybody around the cordoned off area. He calls for a body bag and is soon able to get back to S.C.U's Head Quarters. Chris contemplates on what exactly had gone on in the hours leading up to the murder. He could not summon a single explanation. And as one of the top S.C.U Investigators/Agents it is unlikely that anyone within the S.C.U could decipher what exactly went on if Chris couldn't. So, it was back to the drawing board. And even over advanced search for the murderer's DNA in the samples that were taken from the scene, there was absolutely nothing. "How does a killer kill somebody and leaves no god damn trace? It baffles me!" Chris says in frustration.

It was the end of another day at work, and Chris returns to his apartment at 8pm. The sky is dark, with menacing thunderclouds looming overhead like some sort of horrific monster. The rain was thrashing down and was making a loud sound on Chris' apartment roof.

Soon after having his dinner in his darkened kitchen, Chris sees a figure pass by the window. This made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in fear. While he did not get a good look at the figure that passed by the window, his instincts told him that this figure had not been here before. So trying to put the fear behind him, he turned on his flashlight and proceeded to the front door. He nervously opened it…nothing. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He asked in hope he would get an answer. Again, nothing. "Hello!" Still nothing. Soon after though, he hears a little girl's voice. The voice says through a haunting whisper "I know who you are…" Chris turns around fearfully……


	2. Haunted

Chapter 2: Haunted

**Chapter 2: Haunted **

…..when he turns around, he sees a little girl in his doorway. She has long black, messy hair and wears a red dress that goes down to her knees. The girl was fixing Chris a stare with her demonic looking red eyes. Chris spoke nervously. "Er…who are y-y-you?" He asked fearfully. The girl's face now wore a dark smile. She did not answer his question. She just continued staring deep into Chris's eyes as he quivered with fear still. After a while though, after he looked at her a couple of times, the girl somehow looked familiar to him, as if he has seen her before, but at this exact moment he cannot remember in what way. Then she uttered a single word by whispering hauntingly again. "Look…" She said pointing beyond Chris. He turned round and saw a harrowing scene. A car was out of control and on the pavement. Then it swerved and smashed into somebody and crushed them against the wall, causing the victim's blood to spray all over the wall and floor. The front of the car was also spattered in blood. Chris just stared at what happened before he said "Oh my god how did you…." He paused as the girl was no longer there. She was nowhere to be seen. "Where did she go?" He asked himself as he ran down the stairs to the victim. When he got there, the car was gone. The victim lay slumped on the floor covered in blood. He began to try and identify the victim by sampling her fingerprints before sending it to the S.C.U HQ for analysis. Rosie Vine soon identified the woman as Karen Bryce, a former Armacham Technology Corporation employee. Chris wondered what the motives were, but eventually determined it as a fatal accident. He tried to oust the thoughts from his head, at least for now, by watching Television. Suddenly, the phone rang, making Chris jump. He went over and picked up the receiver. On the other end however, was that creepy girl. The girl said in her typical haunting whisper "Look what you did!" referencing the car accident. Chris replied with "I didn't do a fucking thing and you know it! What do you want with me?" The girl replied in her whisper "Do you remember the name Alma?" although she did not answer his question again. Chris sat nervously on his sofa again. Alma continued. "Look at the TV." She said giggling afterward. Chris's TV displayed him in his lounge and what he was doing right now. Then, Alma appeared on the TV, approaching Chris from behind the sofa he was sitting on. Chris turned around with dreaded thoughts and saw Alma approaching him slowly. Her face was completely obscured by her long black hair. Then she slowly turned her head upward, partially revealing her face, her eyes looking right at Chris with intent. She continued to approach him as Chris gulped in fear. "Don't move…" she ordered in her infamous whisper. Chris wanted to get up and leave his apartment, but feared that if he did, it may have fatal repercussions. Eventually, Alma reached the sofa, positioned right behind Chris. Alma moved her head forward over the sofa as she looked at Chris. Chris on the other hand looked away from her, scared to make eye contact, though he could feel her hair touching his arm. Alma went right up to Chris's ear. "Look at me…" she whispered. Chris followed her order, still afraid of what Alma may do if he went against her wishes. He nervously turned his head to look at her, and Alma's eyes seemed fixed to him. Alma leaned her head in towards Chris so her face and Chris's face were almost in contact as she wanted Chris to hear what she was saying and remember exactly what she said. "I know exactly who you are and I know that you know who I am….." she whispered, the stench of her breath made Chris want to turn away. Alma continued in her now almost trademark whisper. "I have been searching for you. They were all fruitless, but now I have found you." She finished and pulled her head away from Chris. "Alma, if that is your name, I do not remember you." Chris said nervously, with detectable signs of lying in his voice as he asked. "Why is it that you have chosen me?" Alma though was gone. Chris was mystified. He felt cold and isolated. He had to keep this to himself, but how was he going to cope with Alma?


	3. Cursed

Chapter 3: Cursed

**Chapter 3: Cursed**

As it turns out, Chris decides to try and forget all of the events of his busy day by hastily gathering all his friends for a night out in a nightclub. As Thru the Vibe by Omni Trio blares out from the speakers, they enter the Demon Nights nightclub. Chris and his friends Sean Blake, Thomas Alderson and Chuck Forrester all head straight for the bar and order their alcoholic beverages. As they sit and sway slightly to Omni Trio's music while downing their drink, they reflect on the events that they were part of since they last saw each other. Chris predictably neglects to mention the appearance of Alma. All he said was his life is pretty much the same everyday. Chris took a moment to think and looked straight ahead of him. People were passing by in front of him frequently. As a last person passed in front of him, Alma appeared again. She was walking towards the table he was sat at and had a dark, angry look on her face as her eyes were fixed to Chris. "You cannot forget me….." she said in another chilling whisper that sent shivers down Chris's spine. Another two people passed by in front of Alma and Alma was gone. Chris looked traumatised. His friends all looked at him and wondered what was up with him. "Chris? What's up, man?" Sean asked with a puzzled look. "Alma…" Chris replied without thinking. "Who the fuck is that?" Chuck asked. "A little girl that's been bothering me…." Chris replied, again without thinking. His three friends all laughed at him. "How can you, a big guy like yourself, be harassed and petrified by a silly little girl?" Thomas asked sarcastically. His three friends laugh again as he just stares into the wilderness. "Come on, man we all go a little crazy sometimes…" Chuck said sarcastically as he mocked Chris by patting him on the back. "I'm not crazy! I swear I have seen her. She's around!" Chris replied with a panicked tone of voice. "Come off it! I think you've had a bit too much to drink!" Thomas said. "Look shut up, I have seen her with my own eyes! She's…." Chris broke off as the lights suddenly started swinging and swaying about as if a big gust of wind came rushing through the nightclub. The music stopped. Then all the lights began to flicker before shutting off one row at a time. "What's going on?" Sean asked. Chris and his friends stood up, Thomas finishing his lager off. Chris looked over to the other end of the nightclub and saw Alma walking slowly towards him in the distance. The hairs on the back of Chris's neck stood up again and felt a shiver crawling down his spine. Alma's giggle echoed through the area, terrifying the entire nightclub. Chris's friends all looked at Chris. "What is this?" Sean asked. "Alma." Chris replied instantly. "Stop with the bullshit will you!" Chuck said angrily. "Well if you don't believe me, look over there!" Chris replied again. Chuck looked in the direction Chris was pointing and frozen up on the spot. Alma continued heading towards them. As Alma got closer, she telekinetically picked up Chuck. Alma lifted Chuck off his feet and threw him at a nearby wall. There was a sickening thud and a snapping sound. Chris looked at Chuck from where he was standing, to see his neck had been broken, his head turned completely sideward. Chuck's body slumped to the floor lifelessly. "Oh my god!" Thomas screamed. Alma picked up both Thomas and Sean with her telekinetic mind powers and threw them both out of a nearby window. They landed on the ground outside hard, but unharmed. Alma continued walking towards Chris with Chris just frozen on the spot, to afraid to do anything. He knew Alma wanted him. "Please just leave me alone…" Chris said shaking heavily. Alma suddenly teleported directly in front of Chris. "Sit…" she commanded in another whisper. Chris obeyed; still fearing what would happen if he went against her orders. They were now the only two occupying the inside of the nightclub apart from the lifeless body of Chuck. Alma grabbed a chair with her mind and placed it directly in front of Chris before sitting down on it. Chris looked petrified. All Alma was doing though was staring him down, looking deep into Chris's eyes, for a while anyway. Eventually she began to lean her head forward to Chris again. Chris couldn't bear to look at her and had his head bowed in terror. Alma continued to move her head forward to the traumatised Chris and once again only stopped when her face and Chris's face were almost in contact. "You want to forget me don't you?" Alma began, once again whispering. Chris still had his head bowed. Alma's demonic looking red eyes rolled slightly before they looked back at Chris again. "Look at me…" she whispered angrily at him. Chris followed her order and looked up to see her eyes fixed to him and her face close to his own. "You want to discard me like all the rest, you want me to fade away into a past memory, you…" she stopped as Chris interrupted, still frightened. "No, you have it all wrong…I don't remember you!" He said. Alma's eyes looked at him intently, looking angrier than before, her completely shaven eyebrows tell him she is not buying what Chris is saying. "Quiet!" she said, her voice raised now, sounding deeper than the average young girl's voice. "I do not believe you, in fact I know you are lying! It is no use telling me you don't know who I am, I know exactly who you are and let me tell you that we are a lot closer than you think." She continued and once again the stench of her breath made Chris want to turn away, although this time he did, making Alma very unhappy. She scowled at him harshly, making him feel uncomfortable. "LOOK AT ME!!" She screamed at him, right in his ear. Chris knew now that Alma was angry. He looked back at her. "Why are you doing this?" Chris asked her. "You know why…I've already told you." She replied still in rage. "You hate me don't you?" She asked already seemingly knowing the answer. "No…I…" Chris tried to reply although Alma gave him little chance. "You do. I can see it in your eyes, wishing I would leave you alone and for you to continue on with your pathetic little life." Alma said still scowling. She pulled her head away from Chris. "Well let me tell you that I'm not going to do so until you remember who I am, "Chris". I know you remember me. So, just say what I want to hear and I'll be done." She finished. "Honestly, I do not know who you are, or I would have told you straight off!" Chris replied. Alma's eyes began to fill with tears. "Liar!" She retorted. Alma slumped to her hands and knees and burst into tears. "You know who I am…" She said tearfully. Alma's tears rolled down her cheeks and began to wet the hard laminate wooden floor of the darkened nightclub. She sniffled continuously. Chris felt useless and knew that Alma would snap if he tried to comfort her. He sat helplessly as Alma cried her eyes out. He looked away for a moment to think desperately why Alma is continually going after him, as if it were a curse that was punishing him for his past sins. When he looked back Alma had gone. All that was left was the tears that she had cried on the nightclub floor. Chris exited the nightclub and set off for home thinking of all the events that had played out in front of him. He got back to his apartment and when he got in he immediately slumped onto his bed exhausted. He fell asleep soon afterwards but even that wasn't the end of his night…..


	4. Nightmares

Chapter 4: Nightmares

**Chapter 4: Nightmares**

Chris was sat in a chair in a room with one dim light that protruded from the ceiling directly above his head. It was a messy room with flaking walls, old chipped tables and seemingly ancient machinery that sat atop the tables. Paper scattered the battered floor and windows that were blacked out. There was a lot of blood around the room that coated a lot of the floor and the walls and even some on the ceiling. Chris wondered where he was as he looked around the mostly darkened room. "Where am I?" He muttered to himself. "You shouldn't have angered me…" came an angry whisper. "What?" Chris asked wondering what the whisper was on about. Out of the darkness in front of him came Alma. "You're terrified of the truth, you know why I'm here, but you just will not admit it." Alma started. "What are you talking about?" Chris asked. "You still don't get it do you." She replied not entirely answering his question. "No I don't, why am I here? Why did you bring me here?" Chris asked starting to sound panicked. Alma teleported right in front of him and set her head down again so hers and Chris's faces were again almost touching. "Look, I have told you every reason why I'm here, except one. You are going to figure it out by yourself." She stated. Chris looked puzzled yet mortified. He looked around the room again, terrified. Then he looked back at Alma who had moved back and was stood directly in front of Chris staring menacingly into his eyes with an evil half smile. Chris looked behind Alma and saw a bloodied skeleton under the table seemingly looking back at Chris through its eye sockets. Chris gulped in fear and a cold chill made its way slowly up his spine. "Terrified are we?" Taunted Alma who was still stood directly in front of him, staring into his eyes with psychological malice. Chris did not say a thing, fearing that if he did say what was on his mind, Alma would make him feel like there was hell to pay for it. Then again, she already is for seemingly knowing a lot more than she is letting in on. Chris couldn't do a thing; he was at Alma's mercy. He now feared that Alma would do something that even she would regret. "I will leave you by saying you cannot stop me." Alma finished before she walked behind Chris and disappeared before Chris had a chance to turn round. Chris sat in the chair contemplating on the events that unfolded before him. Then Alma's apparitions appeared. Vaguely humanoid by appearance, they had pale skin, glowing yellow eyes and they hovered quickly through the air with their only intent being exploding when they come into a contact with a human being. Alma's giggle echoed around the room as the Apparitions continued to advance towards him. He was trapped and had nowhere to go.

He awoke. "It was just a nightmare." He convinced himself. He raised his head and looked directly in front of him and saw Alma standing at the end of his bed staring at him in the same way as in the nightmare, complete with that evil half smile. "Terrified are we?" She asked tauntingly in the same way. Then Alma giggled and disappeared from view by crawling under his bed. Chris looked under his bed and nothing was there, Alma had vanished. It was 2:00am and he decided to drift off to sleep again.


	5. Surreal

Chapter 5: Surreal

**Chapter 5: Surreal**

Chris awakened the next day. The sun was up, the sky was clear, but something was not quite right. The birds were not singing. Chris pondered for a moment before he went to the bathroom to get himself ready for work.

After he was dressed in his business suit complete with tie he made his way across his apartment's main hallway. As he looked in the lounge and the kitchen he saw each room had been totally destructed beyond belief. The telephone pulled out of its socket, the sofas were wrecked, plates and cups were strewn across the kitchen floor in pieces and pillow feathers fell like snow throughout his apartment. Chris could not believe what he was seeing, although because he was already late for work he could not take it all in right now.

He skipped breakfast and hurried towards the door. As he exited the door he could not believe what he was seeing. Car alarms filled the air, cars were destroyed, buildings and other apartments in the immediate vicinity were on fire with heavy black smoke protruding from each as the smoke stretched seemingly into the sky. Debris was littered across the street and worst of all, blood was splashed everywhere, on the floor, the garden walls and on the leftovers of the cars. Chris could also make out numerous bloodied skeletons with flesh hanging off of them laid out on the pavement, in the gardens and on the road.

Chris could not believe it. He thought he had awakened to another nightmare but this was frighteningly real as he still scanned in shock at the gruesomely surreal scene that was mapped out before his eyes. The most amazing thing was that his Lotus Exige was sat in the middle of the street without a scratch or an ounce of blood on it as its metallic blue paint glistened in the daylight.

Chris finally closed the door to his apartment and walked up to his car. The car was oddly unlocked as he opened the door and got in.

The car started before he even put his keys in the ignition. Chris looked across to the passenger seat in which sat Alma, her long greasy black hair hung over her face and her red dress was stained with blood. Alma giggled harshly as Chris could tell she was looking at him through her hair. Chris looked back at the steering wheel as he reversed in a panic and as he glimpsed momentarily at the passenger seat it was empty.

Chris reversed accidentally over a skeleton, prying the skull away from the spine before the skull rolled in front of Chris's car, making him jump as it did so.

Suddenly Chris received a hallucination, albeit in a very quick flash before it disappeared and he was returned to reality. All he had time to note was the large amount of blood; he did not note anything else in the second or so glimpse. Chris, now frightened, drove forward about 100 yards with the surreal scene of the cul de sac where his apartment was situated was left further behind. Chris plucked his mobile phone from his pocket and called the Serial Crime Unit Headquarters. It bleeped twice before Rosie Vine picked up.

"Hello?" She began.

"Hey, Rosie, I need you to send the police and ambulance services to Robertson Street immediately." Chris replied.

"That's where you live!" She said stupidly.

"Yes, I know." Chris replied sarcastically.

"Why do you need the police and ambulance services there?" She asked.

"Flick on the news channel." He replied. Rosie changed the channel of the TV over her desk as she began to watch the news intently, and saw that indeed, Robertson Street had been turned into an almost war zone state.

"OK I will do so immediately." She said.

"Thank you." Chris replied sarcastically as he ended the call and closed his mobile phone. Chris sat there in his car for a few minutes, going over what he's just been through again and again as he pictured the scene in his mind. Chris has never been so frightened before.

Eventually he heard the roar of the distant sirens. Chris knew immediately where these sirens were headed. He looked around frantically for them before eventually he saw blue and red flashing lights down the road with the sirens wailing loudly, especially being that they had broke the silence other than the sound of fire that dominated each building around Chris's apartment. When they reached the cul de sac and quickly scanned over the scene they cordoned off the area with POLICE DO NOT CROSS tapes. Chris got out of his car momentarily and approached one of the police officers.

"Is there any chance of me coming back to my apartment?" He asked.

"Not in the immediate future, sir this is a serious crime scene." The officer replied.

"I need to get my belongings then." Chris said with his voice slightly raised.

"We will gather your belongings as soon as possible, sir but now is not the time to enter this area." The officer replied again as calmly as possible.

Chris could not be bothered to argue with the officer anymore and went back to his car and got in. The car was still running and Chris did not notice this until now. He looked in his glove box and noticed something in there that shouldn't be. It was a small Armacham Technology corporation match box with two matches inside. On the underside of the box was scrawled messily with "Do you remember these?" in black ink. Chris instantly thought that Alma must have written the message on the box. When Chris looked up again he got a shock as Alma was staring in at him from the other side of the windshield. She was hanging over from the car roof right above Chris's head with her head, arms and chest visible through the wind shield, all upside down. Her long dark greasy hair was spread messily across the wind shield and the car bonnet.

Chris looked back at the matchbox to try and decipher what the message means if Alma had indeed written it. He looked back at the windshield and Alma was gone. Chris was getting tenser as each minute passed.

He decided to stave it off for now as he started off for work and drove quickly down the street with the thoughts of what he'd seen so far today playing in his head over and over again.


End file.
